Repurposing existing buildings for use as new hotels is becoming more popular with developers both for the environmental benefits. This adaptive reuse approach can often dramatically lower carbon emissions and slash material waste compared with demolitions and new builds.

Finding viable sustainable building materials to supplement carbon-intensive concrete and steel is an ongoing concern for the hotel sector, with designers and developers working with materials such as responsibly sourced wood and fly ash concrete to address this. Guest room extras, like slippers and notepads, are also being replaced with recycled and reusable alternatives.

As discussed in Solutions for the New Climate Era: Hospitality & Leisure, off-grid lodgings that use less energy are being established by global hotel chains and boutique properties alike. Approaches include elimination of fossil-fuel reliance and creative structural design to aid natural cooling.

Hotels are working to tackle the carbon impact of their food and drink by developing creative menus that use waste ingredients and AI to track and reduce kitchen waste and collaborating with other sustainable brands to upcycle leftovers. This approach is vital to lower the 79,000 tonnes of food thrown out by the industry annually (Business Waste, 2024).

Some hotels are going further than simply protecting the land on which they stand by actively regenerating it with copious indigenous flora and fauna and, in some cases, rewilding it with the reintroduction of native wildlife. For more on how the travel industry as a whole is helping to replenish the natural world, read Regenerative Travel.